


Shadows and Dust

by Clea Strange (agentj)



Category: Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 14:38:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8804755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentj/pseuds/Clea%20Strange
Summary: Doctor Strange gives Dormammu a gift.





	

_ Soon. _

If the energy being had had a body, he would have salivated at the thought of it. For so long, he had longed and desired for the realm he touched upon so many eons before. That realm teamed with life - countless, seething unfathomable life. Life scrambling on top of itself, fighting over itself endlessly. Such deliciousness just waiting to be devoured.

The dwindling peoples of his paltry dark realm had not quite forgotten the horrors of the last scission between dimensions - a ravenous race known only as the Mindless Ones had been annexed into the Dark Dimension by its last wizarding leader. Nothing could stop the creatures insatiable need to consume nearly everything save each other (and sometimes even that!).

Fortunately, for the people of the Dark Dimension, there had been Dormammu. He and his Faltinian sister Umar were fortunately positioned to protect the people of this realm, shielding them from these Mindless Ones with a spell so powerful, nothing could penetrate it. With all their gratitude, the people overthrew the wicked wizarding leaders and replaced them with the now-rightful heir - Dormammu.

But oh how the people would have relented their decision if only they had known how the Mindless Ones came to be! And hadn’t the people noticed that, from time to time, the number of Mindless Ones increased instead of decreased? No, they wouldn’t. People were very, very stupid.

Well, most of them. From time to time, some insect would pester him, one that had just enough knowledge to be dangerous. Like that realm filled with light and life.

Dormammu touched upon it, looked longingly at it, then made plans to scission the energetic membrane between dimensions and seize it. It was a lot of life to conquer and made force to obey. What a marvelous game it would be to trick this other realm into making them, too, fall down in worship of him! He studied their cultures and rituals carefully.

They were so divided - so many different kinds of life, so many leaders! Just pit one against the other, and watch the wages of war! But, oh, so many lives would be lost that way before he could dominate them. He would have to be more clever, more careful.

A small but growing power had been rising beneath all the others. It was the Awareness of Consciousness. This one was tricky. Like the wizarding leaders of the Dark Dimension, it had tendrils in the vast powers of All That Is, but it existed in a realm more critical of the mystic arts. This power had to be more stealthy, more aware, more all-encompassing, planting itself in the belief systems of its inhabitants.

This was the best route. After all, nothing could kill an idea. All he needed was a way in, present the idea of a new god of this powerful source. Already there were worshipers of One God. He could be that god - easily. He could be the god of all the peoples. They were waiting for the return of just such a one. But he needed this underlying belief, balanced with the laws of physical science, to work his cunning plan.

Slowly but surely, Dormammu seeded his ideas as inspiration into this life-teaming world. His form started to take hold. The people who followed this belief of Awareness of Consciousness began to write about him, enter his name into their books of magick and sorcery.

It was all going according to plan until one day a small, diminutive gleaming white creature appeared as a blemish in his dark realm. Not timid or shy, but not an obvious powerhouse either. She was silent as the void and patient as a star, waiting for him to appear to her. Her long flowing silver hair had been plaited behind her head and hung down to her knees.

She had taken notice of his seed in her world, and she said she would allow it to be watered no more. She would uproot him like the weed he was.

_ Blasphemy! _

Dormammu and this “Ancient One” as she called herself fought a long and ardent battle, so mighty that all of the mystical beings within the multiverse could not fail to take notice. He captured her inside a bubble dimension of unrelenting pain - she escaped (but since was missing her long plait of hair). She chained him to a binding that somehow drained his energy, but he cut it loose. When he blasted her across the Dark Dimension, she fell back through at least seven other dimensional streams, his vengeful power against her was so fierce.

Yet the Ancient One kept coming.

Finally, Dormammu relented. He would not withdraw his seed, but he would let her squelch any further attempts at its growth. She would siphon and retain all the power he had fused into her world, thus giving her the power to live eternally. But he did not promise that he would  _ never _ enter her world. Just that he would no longer attempt to usurp it. To be certain he would keep his promise, she would use her power to shield and protect this “Earth” from his dominion.

And so was the agreement was between Dormammu and this Ancient One.

So imagine Dormammu’s delight when a small, puny little creature from that almost long-forgotten realm beseeched him for the gift of everlasting life! But not for just himself, he said, but for his followers, too.

_ Would you be…generous enough to extend this gift to all of the peoples of Earth? _ asked Dormammu.

_ Certainly _ , was the reply.  _ Though perhaps not all were worthy of such a gift; those who would give themselves over to the dark lord should truly reap his rewards. _

_ At last! _ Dormammu rankled with unmitigated joy. With this opening, he was welcome once again to plant one tiny little seed.  _ You know she is not what she seems. She tricks you. She speaks lies and blasphemies. _

The eager zealot’s mind was fertile, and the seed rooted and blossomed immediately.  _ The Ancient One draws upon your power so that she may live whilst the rest of us suffer and die. _

_ Yes… _

The dark lord gave a mere flicker of his power over to this puny one and his followers. As a price for this gift, Dormammu drank from their lifeforce. Such a sweet taste of what was to come.

Although the sweetest of all was the ash of death from the Ancient One. No more would his agreement with her hold him bound and chained from entering this world of light and life. It  _ would _ be his - as all other dimensions he had devoured long before this planet’s own creation.

One by one, the locks fell off their doors until a small tear allowed the Dark Dimension to take a foothold into one of the ley lines of power. Eagerly, Dormammu awaited for the last lock to be removed. These wretched creatures would embrace him and tremble at his feet - and he would bask in the glory of their bountiful feast of life energy.

But what was this? A tiny speck came to rejoice in the joining of their realities, perhaps. This one possessed a power, but it was not his. There was a familiarity to it, like a bad taste of righteousness that had been left by the Ancient One eons before.

“Dormammu!” he cried at the dark lord’s fearsome visage. “I’ve come to bargain!”

What silly hope-filled mirth was this? “Bargaining” with the Dreaded One? Imbecilic foolishness and farce! If this insignificant creature thought it could take the place of the Ancient One and strike up a new contract, it was sorely mistaken!

“You’ve come to die! You’re world is now  _ my _ world.” This one, Dormammu could feel, had a fledgeling faith, though he had once rested his beliefs in the tenets of science. It would be enough to plant a little seed that would resonate into the subconscious of his “humanity.” How little this ant knew of its true connectedness between his psyche to that of the rest of its own kind!

With three simple words, Dormammu planted the idea of his power and god status. “Like  _ all _ worlds.”

All he needed was fear and pain to make the idea grow. He showered the insignificant thing with energy bolts, watching it dance absurdly with pitiful little protective mandala shields.

_ Oh, how quaint. _

There, the subconscious message had been delivered. Far too easy. Now to do away with this…thing.

His energy streamed from his open mouth to obliterate the wretch before him. The flimsy shields lasted but a moment, and he was wiped away.

Pity. His fighting spirit had a nice spice to it.

Then…something happened.

The glowing ash of the being’s body seemed to return, become a man again, and return from whence it came. What trickery was this?

Then again the pathetic soul returned once more to announce, “Dormammu! I’ve come to bargain!”

“You’ve come to die!” Dormammu repeated. “You’re world is now--”

It felt tingly, bizarre, unsettling. There was some mystical element at play here, but Dormammu couldn’t quite fathom it. “What is this?” Was this one of those silly dreams his subjects often had when their energy depleted itself, and they were subjugated to ultimate vulnerability of unconsciousness?

“Illusion?”

“No,” answered the stranger. “This is real.”

“Good.”

He drew two spikes from the void and crossed them through the stranger’s fragile body.  _ My goodness! He didn’t even defend himself! _

His body was there, but then not there, but then he was there again! Back where he started, looking down at his arm before announcing, “Dormammu, I’ve come to bargain.”

There was that word again! But he said it differently. He said it  _ patiently _ . He  _ hated _ patience. Worse, he hated the fact that he could not sense where this power was coming from! Had the Ancient One tricked him? Did this one have an accomplice? Where was the source of this?! Why could he not touch it with the power of his mind?!

“ _ You _ \--? What is happening?!”

“Considering you gave Kaecilius powers from your dimension, I brought a little power from mine. This is time.” He rose his arm adorned with circling mandalas. “Endless. Looped. Time.”

Foul insidious creature! What kind of audacity could it have to even fathom to trick the great and all-powerful Dormammu? “You  _ DARE?! _ ”

The mighty dark lord struck a fist upon the bug. Surely that had well and truly squashed it now?

“Dormammu! I’ve come to bargain!” It returned -  _ again _ \- and was insistent now.

No! Surely this thing was weakened! How can this magic continue? “You cannot do this forever.”

“Actually, I can.” The human looked rather  _ smug _ as it spoke. “This is how things are now. You and me - trapped in this moment -  _ endlessly _ .”

Fine. Dormammu could enjoy the spike of this one’s spice a little longer, after all. “Then you will spend eternity dying!”

“Yes.” He sounded resigned to his fate. “But everyone on Earth will live.”

“But you  _ will _ suffer!” Think again, little speck. Dormammu will make you  _ miserable - ETERNALLY _ ! Surely you don’t want that?

Almost wistful, the stranger replied, “Pain’s an old friend.”

_ Masochist! _ No one has ever dared to outright defy Dormammu so blatantly since… since…

The Ancient One. Of course.

Very well. Let this be the game.

Death by spikes. Death by a heralding sun. Death by suffocation. Death by seizing his organs. Death by exploding brain. Death by thousands of flesh-eating creatures. Death by molten lava. Death by being engulfed in the planetoid he stood upon. Death by slamming his body mercilessly to the ground, letting every bone and blood vessel shatter. (Oh, you  _ liked _ that one? What are these incantations of injuries you list in your head? Let’s do it again once more!)

Death by…boredom?

_ Boring. _

Somewhere after the first 400 deaths, Dormammu thought this was the way the human was to punish him - by making him just… _ bored! _ The taste of these deaths in Dormammu’s mouth was like ash to him, over and over. There was no more sweet saltiness for him to savor.

Dormammu turned away to leave the creature to it’s own misery only to discover…he simply ended right back again, facing his adversary!

Now he was  _ mad _ .

Death by ripping his limbs and watching him bleed, screaming in agonizing horror. (Oooh, Dormammu liked that one. Maybe do that again.) Death by turning him inside out. (Another oldie but goodie.) Death by ripping out his organs and entrails, hovering them over him, letting him watch his heart beat while he died. (That one was nice.) Death by ripping his flesh from his body.

Wow. These creatures are even more ugly without their skin.

Again, he came. Again, he destroyed him.

Death by… death by… Oh sod it. Dormammu pushed him down to the ground while he tried to think of another way to kill him.

The dark lord watched the thing struggle its way back to its feet. “You will  _ never _ win!” By the Hoary Hosts of Haggoth, surely he could plant a seed, an idea that what he was doing was  _ pointless _ ? Well, it was dull and repetitive to Dormammu, at any rate. Surely this being was bored? In pain? What was this creature! How could it withstand the dark lord’s relentless onslaught?!

“No.” The human struggled from his knees to stand, somehow drawing strength from the fact that he was still here. “But I could lose. Again. And again. And again. And again forever.”

And he stood. And he looked up at Dormammu. Defiant. And he said, “That makes you my prisoner.”

_ “NO!” _ Dormammu rained spikes down upon him.

200 more deaths. “ _ STOP! _ Make this stop!”

400 more. “ _ SET ME FREE! _ ”

“No,” the stranger spoke plainly, patiently. “I’ve come to bargain.”

Unheard of! But what choice did he have? “What do you want?”

The stranger made the sign of the Seal of Oath. “Take your zealots from the Earth. End your assault on my world.  _ Never _ come back!”

Such  _ insolence! _ How  _ DARE _ he make such unmitigated and uncompromising restrictions upon the dark lord and master Dormammu?!

“Do it - and I’ll break the loop.”

Oh to kill him - to make him die! To make him suffer!

Been there. Done that. Got the mandala to prove it.

In the end, Dormammu…“bargained.” Again. But this time there were no stipulations he could manage to slip his way back into Earth. Barring the death of this stranger, he had no bargaining chip of his own.

But the stranger didn’t ask for power or immortality in return.

_ Of course not, you fool! _ Dormammu chided himself. The stranger had all the time in the world. If he aged, he could turn himself back. Again and again. For all eternity.

How had this one, with no powers of his own - well, except for this measly thing called “time” which he apparently had a lot of - defeat Dormammu without casting a single spell on him?! At least the Ancient One beat him fair and square! This was the worst kind of humiliation! If his subjects ever found out…

But they would not! They could not! He was fortunate then that no one had witnessed this encounter.

…Had they?

A tiny little speck of white and pink and lavender ducked away from sight by a crevasse on a nearby formation.

The human had gone back to its own kind, waiting for Dormammu to make good his word. But first, the dark lord would inspect this thing he thought he sensed.

The dark lord peered closely at the formation. He turned it slowly in his hands. Just luminous rock.

_ Hmm. _

Something was eluding him, he could feel it.

But he made a new contract with this creature of Earth. Very well.

Dormammu followed the tendrils of his power into the scission between their dimensions and clasped the things that were feeding off of him. He fed them the ash he tasted in his mouth from this bitter defeat, and they shriveled and died. The only thing left of their crumpled forms was the tithes of their essence. He drew them to himself, then sealed the scission.

There was no joy of devouring their pain of defeat. They were nothing more than shadows and dust.

Dormammu felt another flutter nearby and looked again. Again, there was nothing there.

The dark lord turned to go once more, but cast a fearful glimpse over his shoulder.

Dormammu sighed. No more stranger appeared.

Then a seed planted itself in Dormammu’s unimaginable thoughts.

Time, he realized, was a tool. One he could fashion in his own way. And he would.

_ What a delightful gift. Thank you, Stranger. _

 

**Author's Note:**

> The bill comes due, Stephen Strange. I hope you'll be ready to pay when the time comes.


End file.
